USM students wrangle giant snapping turtles

University of Southern Mississippi graduate student Gabbie Berry captures video of fellow graduate student Luke Pearson as he catches a 36-pound alligator snapping turtle while they research the population of alligator snappers.
Brian Broom

Researchers ask for public's help

University of Southern Mississippi graduate students Luke Pearson and Gabbie Berry hold alligator snapping turtles weighing 50 and 60 pounds while doing research on the turtles. (Photo: Gabbie Berry/Special to The Clarion-Ledger)

It looks like a scene from the television series Call of the Wildman. University of Southern Mississippi graduate student Luke Pearson wades through murky water as he sneaks up on a 36-pound alligator snapping turtle. The turtle appears to become nervous and dives underwater. Pearson dives in after it.

Amazingly, Pearson stands up with a big grin on his face and pulls the turtle from the water. More amazing, all of Pearson's fingers are intact.

"From my angle, I could pretty much see," said Pearson. "I know how they react underwater.

"They don't turn around. They would much rather escape than bite underwater. I managed to get my hands on the shell. I was in very little danger."

Pearson and fellow graduate student Gabbie Berry are researching the alligator snapping turtle population in Mississippi and they are currently working in one of the wildest parts of the state — the Pascagoula River system.

"We're working with the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science to pretty much do a distribution study of alligator snappers across Mississippi," Pearson said. "It's where are they and how many are we catching.

"No person has actually gone out to find them and figure out how many there are. We wanted to fill that knowledge gap to see if our populations are OK."

In decline

Pearson explained the overall population of alligator snappers and their range have experienced a dramatic decline. He said decades of unregulated harvesting in the 1900s coupled with changes in habitat sent their numbers into a downward spiral.

Pearson said the decline in some areas is so marked, recommendations have been made to the federal government to list the species as endangered, but there hasn't been enough research throughout the turtle's range to warrant that action.

"It's a massive population decline," Pearson said. "It could be Mississippi is a stronghold.

"It could be Mississippi is doing just as bad as Louisiana. Who knows?"

As important as Pearson and Berry's research is, it isn't for the faint of heart. Pearson said alligator snapping turtles have scissor-like beaks and jaws powerful enough to cut cleanly through bone.

With powerful jaws and scissor-like beaks, alligator snapping turtles are capable of biting through bones.(Photo: Gabbie Berry/Special to Clarion Ledger)

"They have a legendary reputation for having extremely powerful jaws, and they do," Pearson said. "The big ones, I wouldn't doubt if they hit you right they could take a hand off.

"It's not something you want to get anywhere near. The beak is wicked."

Despite the turtle's reputation, Berry said she couldn't pass up the opportunity to study them.

"When I saw the chance to work with alligator snapping turtles, these giant turtles in the south, I jumped at it," Berry said. "Every time we catch one 50 to 75 pounds, I'm like, 'How do they get this big?'

A rush

As exciting as working with the giant reptiles is for Berry, sometimes it's a bit more excitement than she bargained for.

"I think the most nerve-racking things we've had were some traps with multiple turtles at once," Berry said. 'There was one trap with three and at least two occasions with two alligator snappers in one trap."

Berry explained that more snappers in a trap means more gaping mouths to watch for.

"Generally, with only one alligator snapper in the trap, you can stay away from the mouth," Berry said.

And then there are the times when there are no alligator snapping turtles in the trap; just plain ol' alligators.

"We've been trapping a lot of oxbows," she said. "With the oxbows comes alligators. It's a bit of an adrenaline rush when we catch a decent-sized one."

Berry said their efforts will shift to the Pearl River watershed next summer and to the Delta in the following summer, but to make the picture more complete, she and Pearson are asking for the public's help.

"Well recently, just with people sharing on Facebook, we've gotten dozens of people saying we caught one here or here," Berry said. "If people can send us a photograph, a location and a date, it's just one more alligator snapper we know is out there."

Berry said photos and other information can be emailed to gabrielle.berry@usm.edu or luke.pearson@usm.edu.